Let’s talk about MDNA...

[nito84bcn 2,734]

I'm listening to it right now... I appreciate it more now, than when it was released. 2012 vibes, happy times and we didn't have a clue about it! I agree that there are tracks that are a little low standard for her, like Bday Song, Superstar, I'm a sinner (How many times W.O used the same loops from his music library??). But the rest is cool, fresh and funny. 
Same happened with the tour when I watched it during the quarantine. Coming from Confessions and Sticky & Sweet Tours, I thought it was dark and difficult to enjoy, but I was amazed by her energy and actually I think that the setlist had a nice flow!

[Pootz333 2,684]

The way you all feel about this album is how I feel about Madame X....

MDNA had the worst single choices. I like the videos for GGW and GMAYL. The songs not so much. 

It also didn't help that it came 4 years deep into the most successful Madonna drag act of all time.

And then W.E.

More like Z.Z.z.z.z.z.z......

Don't kill me.

 

[Markdonna 692]

I don’t get the hate.

I love GANG BANG. SOME GIRLS. I’M A SINNER. LOVE SPENT.  Actually, I did a road trip recently and this album is still a pretty fun listen.

[cyberrage 399]

On 3/24/2021 at 2:54 AM, diegolcl said:

I don't think the songs are that bad besides the awful mixing and production choices. The major problem for me is that she couldn't decide if the album was a happy-poppy-fun or a divorceé's revenge. The Tour is great though, even with questionable musical direction. 

I was listening to it last week and agree, so so much potential but mixing and production do not complement lyrics and themes. Too much noise and not enough emotion in the music making it jarring at times. For me its the perfect Madonna album she is trying to burst through the commercial filters applied to make it sound like everything else at the time.

I dont ever mind the humour or fun like B day song or GMAYL but the low points are not just album related, they are oh la la career lows. One does not la la when they can mmm like Madonna

[LikeAMelody 728]

An artist's work comes from within and people can relate to it, understand it, emphasize with it, admire it...or not. 

[heartcore 1,477]

I don't think it's terrible as I don't believe Madonna has any terrible records. It's definitely the weakest. I think the biggest issue for me is that the production isn't great. Just look at how much clearer and better this mix of Turn Up the Radio is:

 

Superstar is an absolutely diabolic track, however. WHAT was she thinking?!

[into the erotico 971]

On 3/22/2021 at 11:52 PM, thelioncourtheart_ said:

Let's be real, she could have cared less. Her mind was on her other projects, endorsements and on the Superbowl. The album is weak and falls short of her standards, feels like autopilot Madonna recording other singers' demos and slapping her name on them. The mixing, the bad vocals, the rushed time frame to meet the Superbowl and then no promotion until the tour felt like the worst way to bring about a new chapter on a new label. It pretty much ended her on the charts and despite the payola for GMAYL, it extended her record but I feel the non-traditional promo backfired on her.

The album itself has good ideas and it is definitely a divorce record. You can see a lot of the songs become more evolved on tour and makes even the most simple songs seem bigger than they were on the record. I can appreciate her stab at the current music scene at the time. Gang Bang being one most loved due to how bonkers it was but leading with a song that most derided on its leaked demo form, GGW was better and TUTR felt like Hello 2.0. As Orbit mentioned, her mind and time was elsewhere besides the album and devoting the time to making this record feel finished. She had M.I.A. of all people and passed on a possible political or social song versus GMAYL and B-Day Song and some of the standouts are muffled through poor mixing and mastering that robs them of their brilliance they deserve.

She did excel at the tour and the visuals of both the album/tour/promotional run but the album itself feels like a contracted album with a "let's record whatever to go on tour". They're fun, faceless and guilty pleasure tracks mixed with some great ones like Love Spent, Masterpiece, I'm Addicted but the cons outweigh the positives. I enjoyed it when it was released but it hasn't aged quite well and you feel like her interest in recording definitely came back during Rebel Heart and especially Madame X. This was sorely missing during the MDNA session. 

i agree with you !

 

On 3/23/2021 at 12:50 AM, cosmicarlo818 said:

Oh man... MDNA for me is like this nasty, dirty stain in Madonna's discography / body of work that I want to forget but can't. IDK, I guess if one doesn't put their soul and their all to a project, it really shows... and that was the case for MDNA the album. Ugh, I just don't like it. I feel like it was a quick need for Madonna (or her team) to release something especially after the Madonna VS. Gaga comparisons of 2011. Because of it, it was half-assed maybe and the result was below subpar - very unlike Madonna.

The only listenable songs are Girl Gone Wild (really took a while to grow on me), Falling Free, and Masterpiece.

The MDNA Tour of course was a different story; at least there was that and it managed to garner Madonna a lot of fans/new fans. Her prowess as one of the best touring artists and performers of all time however was maintained because of the MDNA Tour.

i don'y like the most of the tour. It is dark and violent without a cause with a few good moments.

[Blue Prince 995]

On 3/28/2021 at 12:42 PM, heartcore said:

I don't think it's terrible as I don't believe Madonna has any terrible records. It's definitely the weakest. I think the biggest issue for me is that the production isn't great. Just look at how much clearer and better this mix of Turn Up the Radio is:

 

Superstar is an absolutely diabolic track, however. WHAT was she thinking?!

Still wondering who made it Dance/Club number 1. 

Then again Britney made a similar song Ooh La La the year after, so I'm guessing there was a general crisis.

I've even defended BDay Song as it reminds me a lot of the Beatles and the whole LSD hallucinatory culture.

[Aiwa08 16,190]

I really love MDNA and the tour. Why I love this album? Because I feel a happy Madonna, who enjoy singing and dance her songs joking with her "dark side". And I feel so good when I play the full album... Except for "Superstar", "B-Day Song", and "Best Friend" I love the rest of tracks. Of course, MDNA it's not her best album, but for me is one of her best albums.

Unfortunately, this was the last era that I really feel her like the queen of the pop/dance music. 

[Husam Elzien 656]

6 minutes ago, Aiwa08 said:

I really love MDNA and the tour. Why I love this album? Because I feel a happy Madonna, who enjoy singing and dance her songs joking with her "dark side". And I feel so good when I play the full album... Except for "Superstar", "B-Day Song", and "Best Friend" I love the rest of tracks. Of course, MDNA it's not her best album, but for me is one of her best albums.

Unfortunately, this was the last era that I really feel her like the queen of the pop/dance music. 

I didn't get genuine happiness vibes off of Madonna. Seemed kind of forced in places, but I do agree this was the last era where you automatically knew she was that b*tch.  She still is nowadays but to a lesser degree. That MDNA Madonna was on the level of her reign in the 80s, 90s, the Music era and the Confessions era.

[MDNA22 1,166]

Agree with alot of the comments - think it was rushed the production, mixing and engineering was poor - too noisy, over processed vocals noticeably pitched up on most tracks, trashy basic forgettable generic EDM sound on some tracks  but it still feels like Madonna on some tracks more so than Rebel Heart. I think it just needed some more work to sound better sonically, ditch the weaker tracks and re-work the ones that were good songs with terrible mixing and production like in Girl Gone Wild

Even Masterpeice that some people think has a wonderful vocal has some noticeable fake sounding autotune adjustments that spoil that song for me. Turn up the radio had good verses but went nowhere with the chorus 

I think the better tracks were Some Girls, - love the bridge and is a very 'Madonna' sounding track, I Don't Give A, I'm A Sinner, Love Spent, Falling Free, Beautiful Killer and I F*d up

I loved the live slowed down version of Love Spent on the tour

I think Interscope picked the wrong tracks to be singles  - which did not help

My main gripe with the album is the vocal production which is not really her fault but the people who mixed and engineered it

I wonder if she had someone like Daft Punk mix the whole album with her  - they could have made more of the tracks and given a less generic feel to some of them. I know she can't win because then she did Madame X and people say it's too experimental etc 

Most of the remixes for this album and the ones that followed were poor compared to the quality we had ben used to through the nineties and even up to Hard Candy